Forest Spirits
by File 13
Summary: The nighttime forest was no place for human travelers. Yet sometimes, that's the place where the most mystical adventures lie. When Haru meets a youkai and his young children in the woods, what's he to expect? Not the mystery of trying to figure Inuyasha out, that's for sure. And... Just who is he looking for? Post-Canon
1. A Youkai Who Looked Like a Man

_..._

 **Chapter 1**

" _A Youkai Who Looks Like A Man"_

…

The nighttime forest was no place for human travelers.

The saddest thing about it was that Haru knew that. And yet, for some strange reason that even he wasn't _quite_ sure of, he was out here, in the forest, traipsing around in the lights and shadows that made up a dark, eerie world. He paused by a large and comparatively well-lit tree, catching his breath and casting wary eyes about his surroundings. It was quite beautiful around him, in an odd, unsettling way that left him feeling somewhat sick and certainly nervous. The lights that did make it through to the forest floor were like silvery sprites that peeked through the black shadows between leaves. The rotten leaves that had fallen to the ground in the past seasons and recent rain muffled his footsteps as he walked. Not a breath of wind stirred past him. It was like he was in a hidden world, frozen in time.

It was unsettling, really, to feel like the only living thing in such a silent world. Forests weren't supposed to be silent and still. Forests were meant to sound alive, meant to be breathing. Keen to avoid dealing with that unnerving silence, Haru set off again. He'd been trekking through this wood for the past few hours, but it had only been the past twenty minutes or so that the sun had set. Someone in the village he had left had told him about a road in the forest that would be a shortcut to the village of Kimonai down to the Southwest of where he had once lived in the far North. Especially when he was wandering in an unfamiliar and dark wood, though, Haru couldn't be exactly sure whether the hungover man had been completely honest, or indeed completely sober. He _thought_ he had been honest, but then again he himself wasn't exactly sober either at the time. He smiled ruefully to himself; festivals spared no one, not even casual passersby just passing down the road.

Of course, Haru could simply have missed the road in the dark, or when the man had been talking to him, Haru had still been in _just_ that spot between soberness and intoxication when the man had informed him of the road that he had completely misinterpreted what he'd said. A frightening prospect, really; one that had a shiver running down his spine as he continued on his way.

At least - as terrible as it sounded - he _hoped_ that was why there was funny, cold prickling at the back of his neck.

Licking his lips, Haru gazed around, peering as best he could into the dark spaces between trees and picking up his pace. There was good reason why the forest was no place for travelers at night, and even more so for him. He'd always lived a rather cloistered, sheltered life (though nothing compared to his elder brothers and younger sister), and had thus far been able to escape the horrors of the real world, but rare was the soul who lived their life without encountering demons, including him. Even with the sword at his side, Haru was wary of demons. He'd been trained to use his katana, of course. He'd even put that training to use a few times before, against bandits when they had attacked his father's house. However, those times he had been on obviously the more powerful side of the fight, and he had been battling alongside his brothers and his father's guards. Just now though, he was alone. He was alone, and demons weren't something he was exactly sure he could fight against and come out alive.

Haru was the seventh son of a village headman, somewhere far, far North of where he was now. That meant he had six elder brothers who were much better than him, much more able, and who received far more attention. Even his younger sister Saki got more attention than he did, though of course this could also have been partly due to the fact that she was the _only_ daughter of his father; an important bargaining tool, and just coming to the age where she could be put into play. But for poor Haru, he was pushed to the margins, always. His mother loved him, of course, but she couldn't do much more for him than that. Not when he was a comparatively useless pawn in his father's game to gaining greater power.

And so, one thing led to another, and he had decided to leave: a few day's food over his shoulder, water at his side, and his katana at his hip, stepping down from his father's mansion with a smile on his face and not a single person to say goodbye to.

It had been the simplest thing to walk out the door. Nobody stopped him. Nobody bid him farewell. Nobody even acknowledged him as he left the comfortable mansion and the bustling village, making his way to the road and far, far away.

That was the saddest part of his story, truly. The small, almost insignificant fact that nobody cared when he'd left with the pack on his back and the sword at his hip would have cut a normal person down to the marrow. The only thing sadder than it was the fact that Haru was _used_ to to his character, however, he was not disheartened. He had dreamed his whole life for that day; a clear day in early spring, when he would leave the village by himself and travel the world, fighting demons and living by the sword like the heroes of legends and myths. A day when he could shed that useless title of the seventh son of a small village headman at long last and follow his own heart, live by his own will.

For several days, Haru had walked. He'd walked and he'd walked, and he never crossed swords with demons or man, not even once. On the roads, he met only simple farmers on their way to market to buy new seeds for the coming year, monks as they traveled the land preaching, caravans of merchants selling foreign weirdities. At night, he slept by the roadside, sometimes sharing a fire with a few others, sometimes simply with his own thoughts and dreams under the lights of a hundred thousand stars and galaxies. And when the sun rose once more, he would gather his modest belongings and continue his journey.

If he were being completely honest with himself, it was all slightly anti-climatic in a sense, and yet it wasn't. He hadn't had the chance to fight demons yet like he had somewhat hoped, but the world was a wondrous place, and he had never realized it until now. The world was full of interesting people, and it was full of colors, and it was full of fascinating wonders. He'd only seen a few Shinto shrines before in his life, but in only the past few weeks, he'd seen more than ever before. He'd heard music before, but he'd never had the chance to _feel_ music. He'd tasted sake before, but he'd never had the opportunity to _drink_ sake, to dance with a hundred men and women as he stumbled into their festival.

That had been a fun night. There was music and dancing, laughing and singing, drinking and eating. He wasn't quite sure what the festival had been for - he thought perhaps it was something to do with a local god or seasonal event - but it had been wonderful.

This, however, had of course led him to his current predicament, tip-toeing in the darkness and among the ancient trees in search of a road that he suddenly wasn't sure even existed.

A branch behind him snapped, and he spun around, reaching for his sword hilt. Heart beating a violent rhythm against his throat, he stared around. Nothing stared at him from between the trees, no great dark shadow moved suddenly closer until it revealed itself to be a hulking, terrifying monster. Nothing at all moved. He looked over his shoulder. There was nothing behind him either. Stooping a little, Haru turned and began to walk again, dark eyes darting here and there, his own breath loud in his ears. Perhaps it had been nothing. Perhaps he had just imagined a branch breaking behind him. Perhaps this was a nightmare, or there was just a rabbit or something running around in the bushes, or maybe-

"Hello?"

Haru yelped, jumping and nearly falling over in his haste to scramble away from the little voice to his left. This time, there _was_ a shadowy figure in the darkness, but it wasn't big or hulking. As a matter of fact, it was quite small and slight, hardly any taller than his elbow. He pressed a hand to his heart, felt it beating erratically through his chest in confirmation that, yes, he was still alive, he'd just about had a heart attack, though. The shadow cocked what he assumed to be its head to the side in question, but he didn't move. Thoughts and stories of demons disguised as children meeting men in the forest and taking them in before devouring them alive rushed to the forefront of his mind - horror stories told to keep little children out of the woods and out of trouble. He had to bat them down, pushing them away so he wasn't more scared than he already was.

"Are you lost?" asked the little shadowy figure, taking a step forward.

"I should ask you the same," Haru said with a nervous, breathy chuckle. "Are… Are you from around here?"

The shadow shook its head. "No, I'm waiting for otou-chan to come get me."

Haru blinked. He had decided that this little figure was female, from the sound of its voice, and certainly young. He knelt down with one knee in the cold grass, squinting into the darkness, but couldn't make out any fine details other than the faintest light of wide eyes reflecting the moon. All else was grey and midnight blue, vaguely humanoid and very short. "Do you live in the village?" he asked.

"I live in _a_ village," the little girl answered, "But I think it's far away. Are you a bad man?"

"What? No, of course not," Haru said, taken aback by the question. He was young, and he wasn't exactly the most perfect angel person alive, but he wasn't a bad man. He would have been somewhat offended, but then again, if he was right in this little figure being a young girl, then it wasn't exactly surprising that she was just as wary of him as he was of her.

"Oh good!" chirped the little girl happily. "Why don't ya come with me? My little brothers and I are waiting for papa to come get us, so when he does then he can help you get home too!"

Haru wasn't exactly sure what a 'papa' was, but his brow furrowed yet again as those stories pushed themselves on his consciousness once more. Wasn't this how all those tales went? The youkai invited the unwary traveler to come with it, brought it to its lair before it ripped the skin from the traveler's face, disemboweled them while they were still alive? He shuddered, swallowing hard when another story came to mind, this one far more recent than those terrible bedtime terrors he had been forced to endure as a child. As a matter of fact, it had been that very morning that he had heard from the miko of the very village he had left that only a few nights ago, a neighboring village had been attacked by youkai, scaring many of the children that had lived there into the forests. Everyone who was passing by, the young miko had told him, had been asked that if they found any children in the nearby woods, that they were taken back to the village and their parents.

Perhaps this little girl - and what sounded like two more little boys as well - were some of the lost children? Haru didn't have a heart of stone. He could imagine what it was like for those mothers to be praying to the gods that their children were alive and would be brought back to them safely. A surge of protectiveness suddenly flooded him, and he gripped his katana a little tighter. This little girl couldn't have been much more than six or seven years old. It was a wonder that she and her brothers were even alive, let alone confident that their father was going to come get them. Haru would have thought them to be gobbled up by youkai on the first night, and yet here they were, and it was suddenly up to him to protect them until he could bring them home. It made him feel rather good, actually. Important. That wasn't something he was used to, even if he was also absolutely terrified at the same time.

"Alright," Haru conceded, standing and walking forward. "Take me to your brothers."

"Okay!" The little girl rushed forward and grabbed his hand. He had the slightest glimpse of long black hair and shining eyes on a grinning face before he was pulled once again into the shadows. Her hand was so tiny - he could have wrapped his own around it twice over - and her palm was warm, though her fingers were icy cold, like any normal human's would be on a dark night in the forest. Demons didn't have warm palms and cold fingers, surely. She pulled him about a minute into the woods before coming to a tiny clearing and calling out, "Tamotsu! I found a man in the woods!"

Another figure, this one even smaller than the little girl, rose from behind a bush, rubbing its eyes. It gave a huge yawn as the little girl and Haru walked closer, just like any small child awoken from a nap. Demons surely didn't yawn, either. "Izzy, is chichi-ue here yet?" the smaller child asked. This one seemed to be the little girl's brother.

The little girl - Izzy? - shook her head wildly. "Nope," she answered before turning back to Haru with a wide smile. She was missing one of her top teeth; a canine from the looks of it. "Hey, what's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Haru," Haru answered.

"I'm Izayoi," the little girl said brightly, "But you can call me 'Izzy'. This is Tamotsu, and Gesshoku's still asleep. Here, come here, we've got food!"

Izayoi tugged at Haru's hakama, and he walked forward into the bushes where Tamotsu had emerged from. A small space had been cleared on the forest floor, where was scattered several things; a few small rag dolls, a wooden sword, a long, straight stick, and a large tied cloth, obviously full. Izayoi skipped over to the bundled cloth, untied a corner, and reached in, pulling out an orange and handing it to Haru. "Here, si'down, si'down," she demanded, tugging again on his clothes until he sank to the forest floor, leaning against a tree. He looked to his left, and saw another bundle of cloth, this one rising and falling steadily. Judging by the shock of black hair he could see through the folds, Haru supposed that this was the second brother, Gesshoku.

"Nee-chan, who's that?" Tamotsu asked with another huge yawn, plopping down on the ground as well.

"He was walking around in the forest. He was the one making all the noise," Izayoi said as she reached once again into the cloth, pulling out two more oranges and handing one to her brother, peeling the other for herself. "Hey, what _are_ you doing in the forest?" she asked suddenly, looking to Haru.

"I'm, uh, I'm a traveler," Haru said lightly, passing the orange from hand to hand. "I was looking for a road I heard was out here, but I guess I might have missed it."

"Where you goin'?" Tamotsu asked, peeling his orange with slightly more difficulty than his sister. He had wide dark eyes and strangely light hair that was partially covered by a green cloth that tied it back. Haru blinked as Izayoi traded oranges with Tamotsu, taking the unpeeled one and giving him her already peeled fruit. He'd never seen hair that pale before. Maybe this all _was_ all a dream, or he was just so tired he was hallucinating.

"I'm on an adventure," he answered the little boy, picking at the thick skin of his orange. The citrusy fragrance hit his nose like a gift from heaven, and his stomach rumbled. He really hadn't realized how hungry he'd been. "I left my home about two weeks ago, and I'm looking for, um…" He paused here, popping one of his orange segments into his mouth. He figured that it'd be too much to ask for a small child to understand what "fortune and glory" or "make a name" meant, so he decided to improvise. "Well, I just want to travel."

"Ooh, we've been traveling too!" Izayoi piped up. "Me an' Tamotsu an' Gesshoku an' my otou-chan have been walking all day yesterday, and then this morning papa comes and he tells us to sit here and wait until he gets back, and not to go anywhere or else we're in big trouble." Izayoi's eyes widened. "Promise ya won't tell otou-sama that I went'n' got you? Pretty please?" she asked, obviously aware that she had disobeyed her father.

"Okay," Haru agreed with a single nod, but he was suddenly troubled. These children weren't lost? They weren't runaways from the village?

"Tell us a story," Tamotsu said brightly, popping one of the orange segments into his mouth and chewing. He didn't close his mouth as he ate, just like any young child wouldn't. Youkai didn't do that, did they? Surely not. "Tell us a story that happened to you. Pretty please?"

"Well, there's not much to tell," Haru said awkwardly, but grinning nonetheless and reaching into his pack. "It's been a lot of walking, really."

"What are you doing?" Izayoi asked, staring at his hand as he pulled it out of his sack, holding a sweet potato. "What's that?"

"Here, have some," Haru said, digging his fingers into the side of the cold but cooked tuber and handing it to her. She stared hard at it for a moment, skeptical, and sniffed at it, like she were judging whether or not it was safe to eat. Haru raised a brow. That had been odd, but either way, Izayoi seemed to have decided that the sweet potato was safe, and took a huge bite. She chewed for a moment, her face screwed up in concentration, and swallowed.

"It's good!" she pronounced, looking up at Haru with a huge, gap-toothed grin.

Haru grinned, then turned to Tamotsu, offering him a piece, which he took greedily and began to eat the small treat. They were silent for a while as they chewed, focused on their orange treats and leaving Haru to his steadily more troubling thoughts. It had taken him a couple minutes to figure it out, but the gears were finally beginning to turn. If he - and they - weren't mistaken, these children had been left by their father here in the forest only this morning. Izayoi seemed absolutely positive that he was going to be coming back for them, probably at any time,, and when that happened…

Haru frowned. He wasn't an idiot. He knew how a father would react if he found a stranger around his children, discovered that he had been befriending them and giving them things. He'd have to leave right now. He had to go.

"Hey, where are you going?" Izayoi asked suddenly, watching as Haru stood.

"I've got to go," he said shortly, somewhat disturbed all at once as he looked around.

"But _why_?" Haru couldn't exactly explain to the little girl that it was a very bad thing for a father to come back to his children expecting them to be safe and alone, only to find them in the company of an unknown stranger who had been in the woods, with a sword at his side and coin in his pocket.

"I just need to go," he answered instead. He took a step forward, then was nearly knocked over as something small collided with the back of his knees. " _Hey_!" Izayoi had wrapped her arms as best she could around his legs, staring up at him with shining eyes.

"You can't _go_!" she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're lost!"

"I'm sorry, but you need to let me go," Haru said, grabbing her hands and prying her off of his middle. He kneeled down, holding her wrists tightly, and stared into her face. "It was nice meeting you, Izayoi," he said as kindly as he could muster, "But I need to leave."

Izayoi scowled, her gaze flickering to something over his shoulder. Something above her head twitched, but before Haru could see anything, or even try to look, Izayoi screamed shrilly, jerking away with terror in her wide eyes and pointing at something behind him. Something growled. Something big. His stomach dropping with dread, Haru spun around.

Unfortunately, he was greeted by something awful. Something _terrible_. Something that made his blood run like ice through his veins, stopped his heart, made him sweep Izayoi behind him and draw his sword even though it was probably pointless.

The moon was nearly full that night, its soft quicksilver beams shining kindly down on the world where it could. Where Haru was just now, it shone almost directly into his face when he looked up. However, the gentle, silvery light only made to make the beast staring down at him all the more frightening. It blocked the moon, cast him in its shadow, tongues of flame leaping from its nostrils as it huffed and stared at him with its mad, red gaze. Of course it was just Haru's luck that the first youkai he came across on his journey would be a bull youkai, and almost certainly would be the death of him. He staggered back as it stepped forward, pawing the ground with a cloven hoof that could have broken both Haru's legs at once. The demon seemed to swell with evil and size as it towered over him, and when it roared, Haru thought his eardrums might have burst as his hair was blown out of his face. It was a massive, earth-shattering bellow that reverberated in his chest and smelled of rotten meat and death. Without conscious thought, Haru fell to one knee, still staring wide-eyed at the mad, bellowing youkai with its clawed hands outstretched, about to devour him alive. The young man scrambled back, and gathered the still-screaming Izayoi into his left arm as she clutched at his clothes; a pathetic attempt to shield the child.

The demon lunged, and Haru swung his sword. The swipe left a deep cut all along its arm, a bloody red gash running the length from its furry wrist to its elbow. The bull jerked back with a startled snort, but with another bellow swung its other arm at the two pests. It caught Haru in the side, and he grunted as he was thrown several feet away, crashing into some bushes with Izayoi still in one arm. His head cracking painfully against a stone as he collided against the ground, all the air in his lungs leaving him with a loud cough. His vision went fuzzy for a moment as he hissed with pain, blinking and struggling into an upright position as he regained his lost breath. When he could see somewhat clearly once again, the bull was bearing down upon them once more. Haru screwed his eyes shut, preparing to feel the massive fists crushing his body, to feel arm-length horns impale his chest, for quarter-foot fangs to tear into his flesh. This was how he was to die.

" _SANKON TESSOU_!"

A flash of light, a rush of wind, another furious bellow that faded to a wet gurgle, and something thudded heavily onto the forest floor, making the ground shake. Haru gripped Izayoi tighter. Her tiny frame trembled in his arms, and she gave a short sob. Something else landed in the grass, this one far lighter, and then footsteps. Haru had barely time to look up when he was yanked into the air and flung to the ground, Izayoi ripped from his arms so violently she shrieked. The earth came up behind him and caught him hard, his breath leaving his lungs in a cough, his sword jumping out of his hands with the impact. He slid a couple feet, then stopped. Once again, he looked up, and quailed in sudden terror.

What a terrible sight this was as well: sharp and bloody claws, blazing eyes, an evil, pointed leer. There was no doubt in Haru's mind that this was a demon.

With a ferocious, feral snarl, the youkai lunged at Haru, raising its claws in a menacing threat. The human - who had tried getting to his feet to run away even though he knew he was no match in speed for this terrifying creature - scrambled backwards with a small yelp, losing his footing and landing on his rear so he had nowhere to look but up into that savage, unshaven face of the white-haired demon. Haru wasn't going to die by the hands of that bloody, shredded mass that used to be a bull youkai. He was going to be _slaughtered_ by this terrifying spectre. A youkai. A youkai who looked like a man. A youkai with tangled white hair that hung around its hips, with bloody, inch long claws, with bared fangs and a shadowed face. A youkai which towered over him like a red clad spectre of Death itself.

He couldn't stand to watch. Curling in on himself with his arms over his head, Haru prepared once again to feel claws tearing through his flesh, fangs ripping through his throat and a final rush and agony that was to be the inevitable end of it all. Instead, he was greeted by something gripping the collar of his kosode and yanking him upright. His eyes flew open reflexively, to reveal that he was only inches away from the demon's face. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doin', kid?" it snarled. Its voice was masculine and guttural, like he was halfway growling - which Haru supposed he was. "You got a bone to pick or somethin'? Or maybe a death wish?"

Haru stammered something indistinct. The ability to formulate coherent thought had suddenly escaped him at the sight of shining white fangs, those bloody claws wrapped in the sky blue fabric of his yukata, disheveled and wispy white hair framing amber eyes glowing with a murderous fervor.

Those were the harrowed eyes of a desperate man and a starving beast all at once.

"Answer me!" the youkai barked, a hand releasing his clothes and shooting forward to grip Haru threateningly around the neck.

" _N-no_!" Haru yelped. He swallowed hard as the youkai's fingers flexed around his throat, realizing quite quickly that his answer wasn't going to cut it, and added, "I m-mean, no I don't have an issue with you!"

"Then you stay the _hell_ away from me an' my kids," the demon said harshly. He let go of Haru's throat so fast, he had barely time to register it before the apparition had thrown him to the ground again. Haru gasped as he landed, his head smacking hard against the forest floor, and screwed his eyes shut, coughing.

A sudden pattering of little feet on the soft earth. "Papa, _no_!"

Panting hard, his head throbbing, Haru dared look up a third time. The demon was no longer looking at him, but at the little girl who had grabbed his clawed hand and was pulling back on it for all she was worth. "No, no, don't hurt him! He's a nice person! He's just a human!"

 _Just a human?_

"Let go, Izayoi," the demon growled. He attempted to pull his arm out of Izayoi's grip, but she didn't let go.

"But he isn't hurting us! He's nice!" Izayoi suddenly pulled her legs off the ground so she dangled from the youkai's forearm. Her sudden weight pulled him off balance for a split second, then without so much as a need to change his footing, he lifted his arm up and peered into Izayoi's face. She was grinning.

The demon was silent for a long moment - a long moment where Haru became suddenly aware of the shrill crying of the baby Gesshoku, and the stifled sobs of Tamotsu from in the bushes - then glanced once at Haru. "Did he hurt you?" he asked the tiny girl shortly.

"Nope!" Izayoi chirped.

The youkai growled, then lowered his arm so Izayoi dropped to the ground. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet as the demon turned once again to Haru. He shrank a little as the youkai stepped forward, far too close for comfort, then crouched down so their faces were only inches apart. Haru could see that, like most demons, the youkai had a handsome face, with dark brows and startlingly amber eyes, like gems. The odd part about him was that there were bluish shadows underneath them, and his jaw was covered in dark stubble not unlike a man who had spent a little too long working the night previous. "You got lucky _this_ time, kid," the youkai hissed threateningly. "But the woods are a dangerous place. Next time, ya probably _won't_ be." Baring his teeth once more, the youkai stood swiftly and began to walk away.

Breathing hard, Haru pressed a hand to his heart once more. It thudded painfully against his fingertips. Honest to goodness, if this wasn't the most terrifying experience he'd had in his entire life, then he was a fish. Shifting to his knees, Haru watched as the youkai paused beside Izayoi, passing under a shaft of silver moonlight.

Ears.

Pointed silver ears atop the head of the demon.

Pointed black ears atop the head of the little girl gazing up at him.

He hadn't noticed them before, because they had been pressed flat against the youkai's hair, blending into the silver of the moonlight and the blue-blacks of the shadows, but now there was no mistaking them. There was no mistaking them sitting pricked atop Izayoi's head either, twisting towards the demon standing above her.

Haru swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair. _Gods_ , he was an idiot. He hadn't only met two demons tonight, but _three_. Perhaps even _five_ , when he considered Tamotsu and Gesshoku. He chuckled, but it was a breathless, humorless thing, more to keep himself sane than to express any real amusement. Two weeks of traveling without meeting a single demon, and in one night he meets five, almost dying at the hands of two of them. This was why man wasn't meant to travel the forests at night. Strange things happened in the forests. Strange things that seemed more the stuff of nightmares than of reality.

The youkai had stopped behind the bushes, leaning over and gathering everything that had been in the small space occupied by Izayoi and her brothers. Haru stood, stepping forward without really realizing it. The demon stood up as well, turning and fixing Haru with a narrow stare, a wailing bundle in his arms and the cloth of things tied around his shoulders. After a long moment where the human froze, the youkai turned again and began to walk away, momentarily running his hand over the top of Tamotsu's hair and pushing the cloth aside before holding Tamotsu's hand at his left and the youngest child in his right arm. Haru watched them, open-mouthed. Tamotsu's hair was just as stark white as the demon's, and atop his head as well were two little pricked ears.

It was only then that Haru realized with an unpleasant jolt for the first time that _this_ must have been the one for which Izayoi and her brothers had been waiting. _This_ was Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku's _father_.

"Come on, Izayoi," he said gruffly, voice clipped as he glanced back at the little black-haired demon girl. She hadn't moved from her spot where her father had passed her, standing between the demon and Haru. A huge pout crossed her lips, and she scowled. "Izzy! C'mon!"

"I want Haru to come with us."

The youkai and Haru both stared dumbstruck at the little demon girl. Obviously, the youkai had not expected for his daughter to say something like that. Similarly, Haru had not expected to be thought of like a small animal of some sort, something that could be claimed by the likes and whims of a small demon girl.

"No!" the demon said, though he sounded more like he was pointing out the obvious rather than denying the little girl something. Haru secretly had to agree. He liked Izayoi, really he did. She was a cute little girl, and her personality was endearing even if she was apparently a demon, and he would have been lying if he had said he wasn't nervous about leaving her in the hands of this terrifying youkai even if he was her father. He'd heard tales of youkai devouring their own children if they were annoying or if they were desperate enough. However, the idea of being around the demon any longer than he had now - especially after nearly being mauled by him - made his hands clench in fear. Honestly, he was somewhat grateful that the demon didn't want to be near him any more than he wanted to be near it.

Izayoi, however, obviously wasn't having it. Her wide amber eyes welled up with sudden tears, and her lower lip trembled. "But daddy," she sniffled. "I like him! He smells nice, and he puh… _Proteck'ed_ us when the mean demon attacked." She pronounced the word 'protected' very carefully, yet still managed to say it wrong.

Haru glanced back at the silvery-haired youkai, and had he not been dead terrified for his life he would have laughed. The scruffy face which had only moments before scared him out of his mind now looked positively "Uh, Izzy," he tried, voice losing a bit of its frightening, feral quality. He suddenly sounded like a man. Just a man. A young father trying to explain to his daughter why she couldn't have what she wanted. "Izzy, um, I don't… We can't... " The demon opened and closed his mouth several times, looking back to Haru in confusion. "You attacked a full on youkai with a pathetic human sword?" he asked at last. Haru nodded, bewildered. The demon gave him a suddenly appraising frown. " _Keh_! Obviously not very good with that blade, are you?"

Despite himself, Haru scowled a little. Who was this demon to judge him anyway?

"So can he come with us?" asked the little demon girl hopefully, clasping her hands together and looking hopefully up at her father.

"No."

"But _papa_!" Izayoi wailed.

"I said _no_!"

Haru expected the little demon girl to break down into tears. He expected her to cry, and then submit to the violent, silver-haired demon's will and slink to his side, leaving him mercifully alone. What he didn't expect was for her wide eyes to harden, her mouth pressing into a thin line and her brows to draw together as she seemed to swell with indignation. With a loud huff, Izayoi crossed her arms into the sleeves of her faded pink yukata and stomped over to Haru before resolutely plopping down beside him and grabbing ahold of his sleeve.

"Izayoi!" The youkai let go of Tamotsu's hand, giving the still faintly crying bundle of cloth that was Gesshoku to the little boy and storming over to Haru and Izayoi. Haru flinched as the youkai came to a stop in front of them, anger radiating off his stiff, towering form in waves. Izayoi, on the other hand, seemed unfazed, glaring up at her father with determination. "Izayoi, let go of him _now_."

"No," Izayoi clipped back, and Haru had to somewhat admire her bravery at denying the demon with such a point blank disobedience. If it had been him, he would have given someone like that anything he had asked for, bowing to him as he left. Then again, Haru wasn't a youkai, and Izayoi was. "I'm not letting go of him until you let him come with us."

The demon growled, and Haru shivered. Izayoi tightened her grip on his sleeve, and for several long seconds, she and the youkai were engaged in a wordless, electric staring contest; a silent battle of wills.

Without warning, the demon groaned and straightened, running an exasperated hand down his face. "Dammit…" He abruptly folded his arms into his red sleeves, scowling furiously. "Fine," he barked after a long moment. " _Fine_! He can come with us. But you listen, kid, and you listen _close_." He glowered down at Haru, who shrank a little. "You make one wrong move, and you'll wish you'd _never_ crossed paths with me. _Got it_?"

Haru nodded, somewhat lost and thinking to himself that he wished he'd never crossed paths with this terrifying creature as it was. With another loud " _Keh_!", the demon spun around on his bare heel and began to walk away. Izayoi grinned brightly at Haru, then reached for his hand, trying to lead him away. "C'mon, let's go." Puzzled beyond belief, Haru stood, brushing off his hakama and shaking his head like a dog ridding its fur of water, leaning down briefly to pick up his fallen sword before being led away by the little demon and her father at a brisk pace. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened or why it was happening, but there was one thing he was sure of now; he wasn't going through the woods alone anymore tonight.


	2. He Didn't Make Sense

...

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

" _He Didn't Make Sense"_

 _..._

* * *

The sunlight was comfortably warm on Haru's cheek, and he stretched a moment, eyes still closed. Fuzzy recollections started to flicker behind his eyelids; ones of bulls who breathed fire, and dog-eared children, and terrifying demons who really were their father. He grinned, a little chuckle leaving his throat. What a strange dream that had been.

"What's so funny?" This was the small, young voice of a girl. Saki, his little sister, was usually awake in the mornings before he was, reading or something like that. And so, Haru didn't open his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. Just a funny dream," he slurred, his voice thick with sleep.

"What happened?"

"Well, I was walking in the woods at night, and all of a sudden there was this little girl who came to me. Turned out she was this little youkai, and she had two little brothers, and then we got attacked by a big bull youkai and her father appeared out of nowhere and saved us. But then he tried to kill me and I ended up following them because-" He yawned and smacked his lips. "'Cause it was dark and the woods aren't a good place to be." He sniggered here. "And also 'cause the little girl wouldn't budge unless I went with 'em."

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but that wasn't a dream," said a gruff, low voice. Haru's eyes snapped open, and he sat bolt upright. The warm sunlight which had been a friend only moments before was now his painful blinding enemy, and he blinked rapidly with a low hiss. Off to his right was a snicker, coming from the low voice that he knew now was that of the violent, white-haired youkai he had met last night. When he could see at last, he squinted around.

He was sitting up on the ground, at the edge of a small clearing. It was not Saki, but Izayoi watching him closely only a few feet away, a huge grin on her face. Her frightening youkai father was sitting with his back against a tree across from Haru, watching him closely, and with a significantly more pronounced dislike on his features than his daughter's. In his lap was a little figure with white hair, and in his arms, an even smaller figure with pitch black hair. The odd thing was that aside from Haru, the second tiny boy was the only soul in the clearing with what looked to be human ears. Was… _Was_ he a demon? Or was he a human? A human child that this irate beast of a man had snatched up from some young mother after attacking her or her village? Haru frowned. It was entirely possible.

"What are you staring at?" the youkai snapped suddenly, breaking Haru away from his wondering.

"Nothing," he answered nervously, realizing he was string and turning away, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. The familiar and entirely unwelcome tension of a headache was already beginning to form in his temples. Not a good way to start off the day, really.

" _Keh_! You humans. You're all the same." Haru turned to look at the youkai with a bewildered stare, one brow raised. What on earth was that supposed to mean? Why on earth was that even something that needed to be said? And how on earth did the demon have enough experience with humans to even know how humans acted, let alone how they were all similar?

"Excuse me?" Haru asked faintly, his brow furrowing as he pulled his legs into a crossed position. "What's that got to do with anything?"

The demon rolled his eyes. "You're all just so amazed by demonic power, and then you immediately get all pissy afterwards. I've had a lot of experience, kid, I know what I'm talking about."

"My name's not 'kid'," Haru said with another frown. "It's Haru." He refrained from giving the demon his family name; not like it mattered either way, but it wasn't like his surname was going to do him any favors in this new life of his. The demon rolled his eyes again.

"Does it look like I care?" he asked testily. "Look, 'cause Izayoi likes you, you're stuck with me for now, and I'm stuck with you, but that don't mean I gotta like it, and it _definitely_ don't mean I'm gonna protect you. You've got a sword, so do that yourself."

"I wasn't _asking_ you to protect me!" Haru burst out, completely forgetting that he was a skinny seventeen-year-old human with no great talent as the blade, and the one he was arguing with was a terrifying demon who could tear him to shreds with only the flick of his wrist and the flash of an annoyed sneer. What on Earth even brought up the idea that Haru had needed protection!

"And I damn well ain't _gonna_ , either!" the youkai barked back. There was a little cry from his arms, and he looked down at his two sleeping sons, his white ears lowering flat against his head as his irritation turned to panic. However, though the youkai had stilled himself, and was holding his breath in an effort not to wake the two boys, he failed miserably. With a tremulous cry, Gesshoku began to wail, his loud cries piercing the morning stillness. The youkai stood swiftly with a small noise of surprise, looking panicked. Haru felt a swift rush of satisfaction; served him right for stealing a human child, and for being a rude jerk.

 _}{_

But why would a demon steal a human child? And why would a demon then proceed to untangle himself gently from the elder son, then stand and take that child into the forest away from Haru, hushing it and rocking it in his arms with an unprecedented tenderness? It literally made zero sense. It made _less_ than zero sense. Shaking his head, Haru stood as well, about to walk away from the group and leave them altogether when Izayoi tugged on his hakama again. He looked down at her. Now that he could see her in full light, he was amazed (and truth be told, a little annoyed) that he hadn't recognized that she wasn't human before. Those little black ears - dog ears, from the look of them - were pretty obvious to anyone who looked at her, twitching and swiveling atop her head with the sounds of the morning forest. He blamed the shadowy night world he had been walking in.

"Are you hungry?" Izayoi asked brightly, staring up at him with a wide grin.

Haru shook his head. "I've got food in my sack," he answered. "Remember?"

Izayoi nodded sagely. "Yep," she chirped. "But it doesn't smell very fresh. Papa said we were gonna try and catch some fish for breakfast and to ask you if you wanted some."

"You can smell my food?" Haru asked, taken aback. Izayoi grinned and nodded.

"Yep!" she said proudly, planting her little arms akimbo and closing her eyes, a smug expression all over her young face. "I got a real good sense of smell. I can smell lots of other stuff too, you wanna see?"

"Um…" Haru made a face, unsure of whether he wanted to see this or not. It was honestly rather worrisome; had someone told him a couple of days ago that he would have been suddenly traveling along with a family of demons, he would have thought that person possessed and insane. Being asked his opinion of if whether he wanted to see a very young youkai detect the things she smelled around her was one thing he never would have thought to have happened. Like, _ever_. On the list of things he expected, it was down there in the bottom ten, along with a woman falling in love with him. Oh, and meeting a youkai family in the woods. That was in the bottom three, surely. "Sure," he answered at last. "Sure, I suppose so. Go ahead."

Izayoi beamed up at him, then closed her eyes, her brows furrowed like she was concentrating hard. Her nose - he swore it was a human nose - jumped every now and then as she drew in the scents surrounding where they stood with short puffs, her dark ears swiveling in her search. After a moment, she raised her hand and pointed into the bushes to Haru's right. "There's a squirrel in that bush." She moved her finger a little further. "And the river's over there. I can smell the water." With an excited smile, she opened her eyes and bounded towards the bush in question, making a ridiculous amount of noise as she did so. With a scurrying, a small ground squirrel darted out, running several meters away from them before looking reproachfully back at them out of dark liquid eyes.

Haru blinked as Izayoi turned triumphantly back at him, unsure of what to make of what just happened. There was, of course, the chance that Izayoi had just guessed that the small creature had been in the bush. But then again, she had dog ears standing at attention atop her head, so the idea that she could have smelled the small creature wasn't so far off. "Uh, wow," he said after a moment, unable to find words. "That was, uh… That was cool, kid."

"I can hear a lotta stuff too," she said excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "Like I can hear your heartbeat, and I can hear Tamotsu breathing. I can't hear papa, though, 'cause he's too far away for me to hear. He's _really_ good at being quiet. He can run through the forest super fast, but nobody ever hears him coming 'cause he's so light on his feet 'n' stuff."

"What were you guys doing in the forest? Last night, I mean," Haru asked, sitting back down on the grass to be on a closer level with Izayoi. She plopped down beside him, frowning a little into the trees.

"I dunno," she answered at last, looking back at Haru. "We're always traveling, though. Sometimes we'll go home 'cause daddy says it's time, but usually we're out here in the forest." She smiled here, looking back up into the jade green foliage above her head. "I like the forest. There's lots of trees to climb, and there's plenty to do when the sun's up. Sometimes, papa will tell us to stay put like he did yesterday, and he'll leave for a little while to do something and then come back. It's usually about then that we go home."

Izayoi fell silent a long moment, looking contemplative. A bird trilled somewhere in the forest. "I like being home, too," she said after a while, looking straight ahead. "Auntie Sango and Uncle Miroku are there, and so are their kids. They play with me an' Tamotsu a lot. We used to play together a lot more, but that was before-"

"Oi! Izayoi, c'mon, we're going!" The youkai's voice cut through Izayoi's little monologue, and she leapt to her feet, grinning.

"Are we fishing?" she called back, brushing her yukata free of clinging leaves and twigs and walking forward.

The youkai appeared suddenly behind a tree, holding Gesshoku in one arm as he walked towards them. "Yeah. Get Tamotsu up, hurry." His ochre gaze suddenly landed on Haru across from him, hardening. "You too, kid. Let's go."

Haru stood, his brow furrowed in annoyance. "My name's not 'kid'," he reminded the demon. "It's 'Haru'."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the demon rolled his eyes, waving a flippant hand back at him. "I'm not waiting for you, so keep up." Turning, the demon began to walk once again into the forest, in the direction Izayoi had said there was a river. Haru watched him go, then hurried and sped after him, falling into a quick pace just beside him. The youkai could at least look at him, but no, his eyes were fixed on his invisible path just as firmly as the scowl on his face.

"You never told me your name," Haru said after a moment, still staring.

The demon turned, giving him an appraising and distrustful once over. He seemed to think about it for a moment before turning away again. "Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha?"

"That's what I _said_ , innit?"

Haru raised his hands in a sort of placating mitigation. "Hey, you don't need to bite my head off," he said. "I was just asking."

"Yeah, well _stop_ ," the demon named Inuyasha growled, jumping over a fallen log with absurd ease. "It's not really any of your business who I am or who my kids are, so just stay out of it."

"Just trying for some civil conversation," Haru grunted, swinging one leg over the log so he was straddling both sides. "If I'm stuck with you for a while, then I might as well get to know y-" He attempted to slide over the other side, but his sandal caught on a knot in the old trunk, and he ended up tumbling to the ground with an ungainly shriek of surprise, landing painfully on his shoulder.

"You okay, Haru-nii-chan?" came Izayoi's voice from just behind him on the other side of the log. Haru rolled over so he was on his back rather than half on the stupid lump of wood, half off, and groaned. He opened his eyes, rubbing the top of his head to see Izayoi jump up to the top of the old trunk, landing on her feet. She jumped off, landing gracefully on the forest floor, and crouched beside him, her wide eyes bright. She reached forward and poked Haru's cheek, her little claw digging gently into his skin. "Haru?"

With a sudden childishness of his own, Haru let his head roll a little to the side as the little demon girl poked him yet again, closing his eyes and letting his tongue dangle from his mouth. " _Bleeaaahh_."

Izayoi erupted in a fit of giggles, pulling her hand away from the human boy's face to clap it and the other to her mouth. Haru chanced opening his eyes just a sliver to peek at the little giggling creature. The skin around her shining amber eyes was crinkled with childish joy, and her huge smile wasn't hidden very well by her little fingers. It was difficult for him to remember that she wasn't human. His lips twitched up in a reflexive smiled before he remembered he was supposed to be dead, and he made a great show of once again throwing his head away from her and letting his tongue dangle.

Tamotsu was only a few inches away, crawling out from under the mossy gap between the fallen log, the upright tree it leaned against, and the forest floor. When he saw Haru's funny face, he giggled, wiggling closer so he could clap both hands to Haru's cheeks.

"Onii-san, what- What are you doing?" he asked, his speech catching like any normal child's would at that age. Haru gave the little boy a wicked grin. Really, it was hard to believe he wasn't a human either, but the little white dog ears atop his head didn't lie. After a moment of looking, Haru sat up, wrapping his arms around the little demon boy and catching him up to his chest as he stood. Tamotsu squealed as Haru spun him around in a circle and shifting him onto his shoulders. Izayoi jumped to her feet, reaching up and clamping her arms around Haru's waist. Laughing, topheavy with Tamotsu on his shoulders, Haru held the little youkai's legs and turned back to the path.

Inuyasha was watching him a little ways away, Gesshoku laying his head across the youkai's own shoulder. However, the look Inuyasha was giving him - a dark, critical stare - made the smile fall slowly from his face as he withered slightly. Inuyasha raised a brow, glancing at his children, then back at Haru. "When you're done," he said in a withering voice. He turned and started walking away again. Tamotsu's face was visible from this angle, peeking over the youkai's moon-silk hair, his fingers shoved in his sloppy mouth. He blinked peacefully up at Haru.

His eyes were the same color as Inuyasha's.

So, apparently Gesshoku _was_ Inuyasha's son. Shaking his head a little, Haru followed after the irascible youkai and the baby, Tamotsu laughing with his legs around Haru's neck, Izayoi speeding back and forth between her father and her new friend, doing clumsy cartwheels and jumping easily up to dangle from low tree branches. However, Haru's attention never wandered long from the back of the demon father, with his streaming hair like the snow that would surround the house of Haru's father in the winter, and the wide amber eyes of the toddler over his shoulder.

Really this was strange. Why in the seven layers of hell was Haru even following this dangerous family of four? It didn't seem like Inuyasha was going to be one of those demons who ate his young, and it also seemed like his children were happy ones, so there was probably no reason for him to be worrying about their personal safety because of the youkai. And even if Izayoi liked him, there was nothing _really_ stopping Haru from just walking away. Actually, it was something that would probably be looked forward to by both Haru and Inuyasha. Really, the less they had to do with each other, the better.

And yet, Haru hadn't left. He didn't leave while Inuyasha sloshed into the water of the river with Izayoi splashing noisily behind him once they'd reached their destination. He didn't leave when the freshly caught fish were roasting over the small fire. He didn't leave when they all began to eat, Izayoi bounding over to where Haru sat nearby to hand him his own roast fish. No, instead Haru stayed, watching curiously as Inuyasha tore off small chunks of fish with his claws and fed them one by one to Gesshoku, carefully picking out the little bones before bringing it to the child's mouth but never once touching his own watched as Tamotsu went to his father saying he was still hungry, and Inuyasha gave him the fish he hadn't touched. Instead, Haru watched as Izayoi and Tamotsu squabbled over who would next get to ride on Haru's back, elbowing one another and racing over to Haru with the inhuman speed shared only between demons and young human children.

Inuyasha eventually called them back with a word of warning, glaring at Haru as though it had been his fault that his children were misbehaving, but Haru hadn't minded. He liked Izayoi and Tamotsu very much. Tamotsu was quieter than Izayoi, and far less outgoing (or at least far less talkative), but there was a perceptive attentiveness to everything he did that Izayoi did not have. And where Tamotsu would back down from something that might have been dangerous, Izayoi barreled in headfirst and grinning. She was fearless, he was intelligent.

The little group left not soon after the fish had first been caught, probably staying at the riverside for only about forty-five minutes or so. Haru had to eventually admit that even though he was somewhat stuck with these youkai, he wasn't minding the company. Over the time since he'd left his father's house, Haru had been largely alone. And while it was in itself exhilarating to not be surrounded by his brothers, the servants, the villagers who watched him with their heavy eyes full of pity, it was also a lonesome way to exist. Haru wasn't exactly sure how mountain hermits and traveling monks survived for such long periods of being alone, with no other human contact. So now that he was sure that Inuyasha wasn't going to suddenly turn savage and rip his throat out - or at least, he was _fairly_ positive he wasn't - it was rather nice having company.

Maybe that was another reason why Haru hadn't left by now. Not yet, at least.

"Oi, papa," Tamotsu chirped up a while later, hanging off of his father's shoulders and pressing his cheek to the elder youkai's jaw. "Where we goin'? We goin' home?"

"Not sure," Inuyasha grunted. "I think there's a village nearby though. We'll go there first, then we'll see about heading home."

"When we get to village, can I get a dumpling?" Tamotsu asked brightly.

"Ooh, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings!" Izayoi danced around in excitement at the possibility. "Please, papa, pretty _please_?"

Inuyasha raised a brow and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Puh- _LEEEEAAASE_?" Tamotsu squealed. The shrill voice, the pitch the little youkai had reached was making Haru's own ears ring. He could only imagine how bad it must have been for the snowy-haired demon father, who flinched and clapped a hand over his son's mouth.

"No yelling!" he gruffed. Tamotsu had the good grace to look ashamed before slipping off his father's back with a muttered 'sorry', leaving him rubbing his ear in agitation. However, true to the nature of children, Tamotsu and Izayoi got distracted relatively quickly by a passing butterfly and raced off squealing into the trees.

"Aren't they going to get lost?" Haru asked, watching the pink and green backs of their retreating kosodes. "You going to go after them?"

Inuyasha grunted. "I can hear 'em just fine," he said, leaning down to pick up Gesshoku, who had been walking alongside him for the past ten minutes. He managed to lift the little demon fully into the air and almost into a comfortable position on his hip when Gesshoku screamed.

"No! No! Down! _DO-OOOOWWN_!" he hollered. The kid had a pair of lungs on him when he wanted, Haru had to admit. Normally he stayed quiet and docile, sweet and calm, but once in a while he could become quite the little demon that he was.

Inuyasha's ears flicked back so they were flat against his skull with the shrillness, his eyes tightening in the corners with pain. Though he scowled, he did set the child down. "Alright, _alright_! Hold your horses, gimme a second!" Gesshoku's feet touched the mossy forest floor, and he was once again grinning, walking alongside Haru and his father. Such were the ways of children of ten seasons. "Damn! Noisy little brat." Inuyasha straightened once again, folding his hands into his sleeves and settling back into a steady pace. It was noticeably slower than what it had been before. Haru supposed it was because Izayoi and Tamotsu were still gone.

"So," Haru said lightly, avoiding looking at Inuyasha, "Why are we headed to a village?"

"I don't like you, you don't like me, so we're getting out of each other's hair as soon as we possibly can," he said simply, giving him a sidelong look. "You got any complaints, yeah?"

"No, not really," Haru admitted. It was pretty obvious that the youkai didn't like him, and Haru didn't really want to spend so much time with a person like that, much less a demon. Making his way to the nearest village made the most sense. It would get him on the right path down to Kimonai in the South, and he would never have to deal with the rude demon or his children ever again. "But why do you say I hate you?"

Inuyasha gave him an dry, toothy grin and tapped one of his fangs with a claw in answer before returning to his brooding expression. Haru frowned, but the youkai didn't look at him again. Shame, because now that Haru thought about it, he couldn't say that he exactly _hated_ Inuyasha. Yes, he was rude, and he was frightening, but he hadn't done anything to warrant _hatred_ yet. Maybe _._ Hopefully.

Inuyasha came to a stiff halt all at once, back rigid and ears alert. Haru stopped as well looking at him a little over his shoulder. "Uh… Inuyasha?"

 _}{_

The youkai didn't acknowledge Haru, instead tilting his head back and taking a few short sniffs in the air. "Oi, Izayoi! Tamotsu! Come back here!" he called, scooping up Gesshoku, who made no move to get away, sensing the sudden tension in the air. Within seconds, Izayoi and Tamotsu had reappeared, eyes wide and brows worried as they looked at their father. Haru looked as well, but there was no information to be gleaned from the youkai that he didn't already know: rude, violent, and suddenly, inexplicably on edge.

"Papa, what's that smell?" Tamotsu asked, tugging on his father's dangling sleeve. His nose was wrinkled with disgust. "I don't like it."

"Smoke," Inuyasha said shortly, grabbing the back of Tamotsu's little yukata and swinging him onto his back. Izayoi clambered up as well, settling beside her brother so she was looking over Inuyasha's left shoulder, her brother over his right. Hardly sparing Haru a glance, Inuyasha turned and began jogging off into the woods, leaving Haru in the dust.

"H- _hey_! Wait up!" Haru picked up his heavy feet and sprinted after the youkai. He was going at a ridiculous pace, and though it looked like he was only going at an easy trot, Haru had to run at a near sprint to keep up. Even then he was falling behind, slipping further back until he was only catching small glances of Inuyasha's snowy hair as it whipped between the trees, flashing like bright lights between the mossy trunks before disappearing altogether. An foul scent began to fill his nose, starting so subtly that he didn't even recognize it as he panted and gasped shallowly for air until it became overwhelming. For a few long moments, Haru feared losing Inuyasha in the trees - he did not know why - but those fears were rather wasted because before long the trees came to a sudden end, and Haru staggered to a stop, clutching the stitch in his side and gasping for air and in shock.

 _}{_

The sight that greeted him was what shocked him: the smoldering remains and still burning ruins of a small village, with men and women lurching to and fro, wailing in despair as their forms weaved and shimmered in the waves of heat and pillars of silvery grey billowing from the roaring tongues of fierce orange, like the maple trees in autumn. " _Gods…_ " The word left him on a breath, his hand rising to his hair in horror.

"Looks more like hell to me, kid." Haru jumped, whipping around. He hadn't noticed Inuyasha standing behind him, but there he was, straightening from where he had been crouched before. Tamotsu had a cloth over his ears, like he had last night, and Izayoi was tying one over her own. Gesshoku stood beside her, pressing his face into his father's hakama.

"What… _Happened_?" Haru asked. His voice was nearly an octave higher than was normal, overwhelmed with shock.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Dunno," he answered, scowling and taking a step beside Haru. He was just over an arm's-length away, his white hair fluttering in the waves of heat that came from the village. "Kid decided to play with a lit stick. Or maybe a cooking fire got a little out of control. But I don't think that's what it was."

With that enigmatic note, Inuyasha sprinted into the burning village. Haru cried out, staggering after the retreating youkai before breaking into a run himself. He honestly had no idea what had possessed him so that he was running into the jaws of the Naraka themselves, but he didn't dwell on that too long. Inuyasha had long since disappeared into the most violent part of the blaze, where Haru couldn't go, so he settled on helping the stumbling and blackened figures as they drifted between the waves of smoke out of the circle of the village, then helping those men who had escaped the flames in the first place try desperately to throw water on the inferno.

Haru couldn't remember much of what happened, really. It was all a blur when he looked back on it later, filled with licking tongues of fire and rising vapors, the occasional glimpse of Inuyasha bounding through the unholy scene with a body or two draped over his back. Haru never knew if they were alive or not. For hours and hours, this went on: run to the well with an empty bucket, take full bucket from frantic villager, run to the blaze, throw bucket of water on the the fire, race back to the well, take a new bucket, run to the fire, throw water on the fire, run back, take bucket, run to fire, throw water, run back-

 _}{_

Several long, intense, agonizing hours later, Haru collapsed on the withered grass beside Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku, wiping his brow with his legs stretched out before him. Something gritty made him glance down at his hand to see it covered in soot, lines and faint blotches from his sweat warping the color, and a long, comparatively clear swath where he'd rubbed it. "You guys-" He coughed, looking over to Inuyasha's children. "You guys okay?"

Izayoi and Tamotsu nodded, their eyes glassy and unblinking as they stared. "Are all those people papa got out gonna be okay?" Izayoi asked in a tiny voice.

Haru opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself. He'd seen enough of the rescue attempts to know that there were two very distinct piles of bodies being made. He'd seen Inuyasha set the burned and bloody body of a man into the waiting arms of his less injured companions, then take a tentative sniff of a little girl's hair before slowly and solemnly making his way to set her down among the second, unmoving mass of bodies, like she were a young flower. A young flower with its soft silken petals choked by silver smoke and its roots eaten by the heat. He'd watched people crawl away from the flames clutching their broken bodies before collapsing in blackened patches of grass, as young girls sobbed hysterically when their eyes fell upon dead and dying siblings, gasping for their bodys' want of air.

He couldn't tell Izayoi about that. Even if she was a demon, she was still a child.

"I'm not sure," he answered in a subdued tone. Izayoi frowned in worry before turning away again, picking at the grass tickling her legs. Haru sighed, letting the exhaustion of the past hours wash over him as he flopped onto his back and closed his eyes. He opened them quickly enough. Closing his eyes only led to sights of half burned victims and people in hysterics.

"-really all that I know about it. I am sorry I cannot help you much more than that."

"Great. That's all I needed to know."

"I'm not sure how we can ever repay you for what you've done."

"Don't mention it."

"You've saved my daughters from certain death, and yet you ask nothing in return? Surely there's _something_ I could offer."

"Judging by the state'a yer village, I'd say there isn't much."

Haru's tired eyes drifted up to the voice of the tall youkai in red. He was standing stiffly with his arms crossed about eight feet from where Haru lay, his body twisted in the direction of his children, but his head tilted towards a bedraggled and soot-covered man Haru took to be the headman, so he couldn't see the demo. Haru blinked, squinting. Something about Inuyasha's appearance seemed off.

"What you _need_ to do," Inuyasha continued, "Is to bury the dead, then get to work on rebuilding and taking care of the injured. You're not a huge village to begin with, and after losing so many…" His voice trailed off.

"Please, I must repay you for your kindness," the headman repeated, ignoring what he'd said and clasping his filthy hands in front of him, staring fixedly at Inuyasha. Haru blinked again, realizing that while soot covered Inuyasha's clawed hands and sat heavily in his hair, there was not a single trace of dirty grey anywhere on his kimono or hakama. Odd. "Anything at all. I will give you one of my daughters, if you so wished - to do what you wanted with her."

Haru choked. The thought of what the headman had just proposed - the idea that he would have offered his own flesh and blood up to a demon even if he had just saved her life - was so horrifying that he almost missed how Inuyasha's chin tipped up and his shoulders stiffened. His terse answer, however, was something Haru couldn't.

" _Sorry_ ," he said, and Haru could hear how he spoke from between his teeth, saw how the headman looked like he wanted nothing more than to take a step back from the hostile demon, "But I've already got a _wife_."

The headman's expression morphed from wary to outright puzzled, as had Haru's, though neither could see. A youkai having a wife? Haru knew very little of the traditions and customs of demons, if indeed they had any, and he supposed the headman was in a similar position. The idea that a demon could have something so familiar, so normal as a wife - not a woman or a mate - was astounding.

Inuyasha continued speaking. "What I _want_ is for ya to take care of your village," he said gruffly, gesturing with a thumb to the murmuring group of people to the left of where they stood. "Get _food_ , get _medicine_ , _get help_. If a holy man or a miko pass through or somethin', get them to help heal everyone up, hire people to work with those who can out in the fields, start rebuilding, and… Make sure you bury the dead in properly."

"We are truly in your debt," the headman said fervently, bowing low to Inuyasha. Haru didn't miss the look of disappointment in his face, and he was sure Inuyasha hadn't either. Obviously, the elder man was not happy with being in the debt of a demon.

" 'S nothin'," Inuyasha mumbled, turning further to his children and Haru. "Don't mention it. I've got some friends who could help out more than me with the wounded though. I'll send them ahead at some time. I gotta get going."

"Thank you, thank you again," the headman bowed before walking briskly away, and Inuyasha turned and walked towards Haru and his children. Haru watched him curiously as he came closer, noting his purposeful stride that seemed like he similarly wanted nothing more than to leave the headman's presence, the way his hands were folded into his billowing red sleeves, the hard set of his stubbled jaw. He looked as tense and uncomfortable and bad-tempered as ever. So it was hard to reconcile the demons he was used to in bedtime stories - the ones that had Inuyasha for the most part lived up to being - with this youkai currently gathering his children with a gentle touch and leading them away from the carnage before them, back into the safety of the forest.

Haru followed along at the back of the pack, lost in thought.

Inuyasha was a demon. This much had to be obvious. Why else would he have dog ears, could have killed that bull youkai from last night with such ease, his own children possessing such superior senses compared to Haru's own? Youkai were meant to be vicious (which Inuyasha seemed to be), violent (which he certainly was), powerful (another given), and ruled by instinct rather than reasoning. That was what Haru had always been told. The scenes in the village, now that he thought about it, did not exactly match this description. Inuyasha was a demon, but he had willingly rushed into the yawning maw of flame and death to rescue several common folk whom he had undoubtedly never met, never seen, and had no ties to. He had denied the headman's payment, refused to take anything more from the people he had saved despite being in a time where all most cared about was wealth and power - or so had been in Haru's experience. He had treated the dead with such care, such reverence, like that one little girl who hadn't made it, setting her down like she were his own child. For the gods' sake, he had children of his own! And apparently, he had a wife of his own as well!

This was something else Haru had a hard time understanding. Youkai were creatures governed by powerful instinct: revenge trumped justice. Impulse ruled logic. Lust overwhelmed love. So the idea that a demon like Inuyasha could have a wife - someone he was bound to by _love_ and by _laws_ \- was confusing. Inconceivable, even. And for two of them to be bound together like that? No, he had to have meant that he had a mate, or something like that. Youkai were like animals. It only made sense that some of them mated for life, like a swan, or a gibbon, or-

 _Or a wolf!_ Haru glanced quickly up at Inuyasha's ears. He had thought them to look very doggy at first, far too tall and large to be a cat's, and covered in small nicks and tears along the edges, undoubtedly from many battles and dangerous circumstances. Perhaps Inuyasha was a wolf demon? Either way, it seemed that Inuyasha hadn't expected the simpering headman to know what a mate even was, and had chosen to speak in terms that he would understand. Yes, that made sense.

"Oi, kid! Hurry and wash up. Don't want you looking like you tried walking through hell in next village we get to."

Inuyasha's impatient call - a sort of bark, Haru entertained - brought him back to reality. They were at a river again, probably the same river they had been at that very morning, Inuyasha scrubbing his arms and face with handfuls of gritty sand in the water. His long white hair was soaking wet. Haru conceded silently to the point and knelt down by the bank, splashing his arms and washing his hair in the icy cold water, several feet away from where Inuyasha was crawling with children.

Actually, it was funny to watch as Inuyasha attempted to scrub his face while Gesshoku writhed around in his wet hair, babbling baby nonsense and tugging on his tall ears, and as Tamotsu dipped his toes in the river before squealing and running off at the freezing sensation. Haru chuckled, then leaned down and splashed his face with a shiver.

"Hey, Haru-nii-san, Haru-nii-san!" Haru looked up to see a grinning Izayoi standing beside him, leaning with her hands behind her back. She had little fangs. How had he never noticed them before?

"What's up, Izayoi?" Haru said, spitting out the water that dripped over his lips and pushing his hair out of his face.

"Look look look, look what I found!" Izayoi fell to the ground beside him, holding something in front of his eyes that was far too close to see. He leaned back, blinking rapidly and grabbing the little demon girl's wrist to move whatever she was holding away to where he could better see it; his eyesight was spotty at best to begin with, especially with things up close.

It was a slimy, slow-moving snail, making its way purposefully across the small expanse of the little demon's palm. Haru, though not really truly repulsed by the little mollusk, with its smooth brown shell and its soft, slimy body, gave a soft noise of disgust that made Izayoi giggle. "Now where did you get that?" he asked, chuckling as well.

"He was over by that log," she said, pointing over her shoulder to a fallen log half submerged by the bank, covered in slimy moss and smoothed with age. "There's a log like that back home where Hirohito and I find a lotta snails. We like to collect their shells if they're empty, but sometimes his mama will tell us to collect as many as we can and we'll make stew with them." Her eyes slid a little out of focus for a moment as she added, "Mama used to do it too."

Haru watched the little girl carefully a moment. He'd noticed the use of the past tense, of course, but he had a little more tact than to ask a young child what she meant by it. He took one last look at the snail and released her hand, patting her arm. "Why don't you go put him back then?" Izayoi nodded, walking to the log. The entire group began to leave not soon after. Inuyasha, oddly enough, was walking in the back this time, just in front of Haru. Perhaps it was something to do with finally resigning himself to the fact that Haru was going to be stuck with them for a time, or maybe it was just to watch his children as they bounded through the woods. Haru certainly caught him watching them with a much softer gaze than he was used to. Haru, however, watched him.

He didn't understand him. He just didn't. He couldn't. Even with the visions of villages up in flames and blackened, dead bodies couldn't deter him from trying to figure this strange forest spirit out. His earlier statement about having a wife, what Izayoi had said only minutes before - none of it made any sense.

Well, since they were walking near each other, and the three kids were ahead of them…

"Uhh…" Haru winced at the weak sound and cleared his throat. Inuyasha gave him a side-eyed look, raising a brow and falling into step beside him.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly. Haru squared his shoulders, steeling his nerve.

"Well um…" He cleared his throat again. He blamed the smoke for the way his voice was cracking. "Izayoi said something earlier, and, ah, you did too, when you were talking to the village headman after we were done trying to save everyone and putting out the fire and all that, and I hope this isn't too _forward_ of anything, but I was, er-"

"Spit it out, kid," Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. Haru shrunk slightly, a little stung, but he wanted some answers.

"Well, uh, where's your mate? What happened to her?"

Inuyasha faced him full on, the mingled look of utter disorientation and rising distrust making Haru physically take a step back. He looked like he was in pain. " _Mate_?"

"Uh," Haru gulped. "Yeah, don't you…" He looked to where Izayoi, Tamotsu, and Gesshoku were. "Don't you have a mate?"

Inuyasha stared at Haru, his expression rather unreadable under the dark brow. Haru squirmed internally under the bright eyes. It was like the youkai could see right through him, all the way to the weathered boulder they were passing. In fact, Haru wouldn't have been surprised if Inuyasha _could_ see through him.

"I ain't _got_ a 'mate'," Inuyasha said after what seemed an eternity of the unsettling stare. "My _wife_ is _human_."

And before Haru could do more than feel his jaw drop a little with understanding, before he could do more than blink, Inuyasha had swept off, away, towards his children.

His _half human_ children.

 _Hanyou_?

...

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 _Glossary:_

[Name}-nii/nee-chan/-san - a common suffix for elder children/teens by younger children; "big brother/big sister [Name]"

Naraka - simply put, the Buddhist version of Purgatory

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A/N And here's another chapter.

 **(THIS IS IMPORTANT)** : this story's music will be entirely based off of the Inuyasha OST, as well as a few other anime/movie OSTs and the odd song. Mostly ambiance music. This chapter used " _Higurashike no Shokutaku_ ", " _Yasashino Kakera (A Bit of Kindness)_ ", " _Hakureizan no Ihen_ ", " _Kusen (A Severe Fight)_ ", and " _Kohaku's Vestiges_ ", in that order. **ANY AND ALL MUSIC CHANGES WILL BE MARKED BY AN** " _}{_ "

Okay thanks bye I'ma work on chapter 3 now..

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 _Currently listening to: The Mystic - Adam Jensen  
_


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